Busy December!

The month of December was filled with lots of learning and fun.  Here are a few highlights of our month.

Holiday Concert
   We kicked off the month with our holiday concert.  Everyone was so excited to share in this tradition with their families.  We had been working for weeks on our fun songs, and we were so happy to be able to share them with our loved ones!

Christmas Around the World

    During our last week right before break we did Christmas around the world in Learning Lane.  Each classroom was a different country that students were able to visit.  In the classrooms they learned about the different traditions of that country and were able to do an activity around those traditions.  The students traveled with their suitcases and passports and worked in mixed grade level groups.  The countries they visited were; Mexico, China, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and England.

Cooking
  For our last marble jar reward everyone voted that we do a cooking activity.  We were able to fill our marble jar this month so, we did our cooking activity.  For our cooking activity we made reindeer food, this is a muddy buddy type of snack.  Everyone had a great time measuring, mixing, and of course eating our snack.

Sharing Gifts
  On the last day before break we had a blast exchanging gifts.  Thank you again for all the kind and generous gifts that were given.   Mrs. Flanagin brought around Christmas poppers, which went with her country for Christmas around the world, England.

Patriotic Week Part 2

At the end of the week we had the privilege of honoring our local veterans through song.  It was a wonderful opportunity for students to show our veterans how much their sacrifice has meant.   Here are a few pictures of the event.

Waiting to start!

Watching the flags being brought in

Singing one of our favorite patriotic songs

Honoring each branch of the military

Patriotic Week

This week was full of opportunities to teach students about what it means to be an American.  First, on Tuesday we ran an election in Learning Lane to decide our reward for our next R.O.C.K. Star chart.  Students were asked to give their name and show their ID (library card).  They then were given a ballot with the four choices that were decided the previous week by the different classes in Learning Lane.  The choices were movie and popcorn, cooking, stuffy day, or game day.  Later in the day the ballots were counted and Mrs. Peavy was invited to share out on the results, it was a very exciting experience for everyone!

Being asked by our intern Ms. Obrien their name and to show their ID

Ah, decision time!

Putting their ballot into the box

Proud voter

Upcoming Dates

October 25-26th- Parent-Teacher conferences 

October 24- 28th - Red Ribbon Week

October 24-28th- Book Fair

November 3rd - Student Flu Clinic

November 4th - Picture Retake

November 10th - Veterans honor assembly 

November 11th - Veterans Day- No School

November 23rd-27th -Thanksgiving Break

November 30- 1st Trimester Ends

Johnny Appleseed Learning

Last mont was Johnny Appleseed birthday.  We took this opportunity to write about Johnny Appleseed and talk about Tall Tale stories.   Ms. Johnson and I also took the opportunity to celebrate his birthday by making apple sauce with the two classes.  This was a great way to teach students about following directions, measurement, and fractions.   We enjoyed the smell of yummy apple sauce cooking throughout the day!!  Here are some pictures of us learning about how to make apple sauce in a crockpot.

Ms. Johnson slicing apples

Counting out the correct number of apples 

Asking questions about measuring ingredience 

Talking about apple slices as fractions

Math and Writing in September

Last month flew by, but it was a great month of learning and adjusting to being back to school.  During the month of September we learned the routine for math groups and math centers.  Students in our class and Ms. Johnson's class will be switching during this time to better meet each students math needs.  Please talk with your child about which teacher they are meeting with, and how we are doing math centers during this time.
Also, during this month we have been learning the routine for writers workshop.  Students have been learning about the writing process and how to write a personal narrative.  I have been so proud of all the work that has been going on during writing.  Many students have made it to the publishing stage of writing, and they have been able to share their writing with the class.  Here are a few pictures of everyone hard at work as writers.

Hard at work planning and writing!

Students using alternative seats

Using plan sheets to writing a story with a beginning, middle, and end

Also

Social Studies - National Symbols

This trimester second grade has been focusing on national symbols.  Part of this study is learning about what a symbol is, and then learning what symbols we have in our nation.  We have learned about the President, the eagle, the Liberty Bell, Mount Rushmore, the Washington monument, Airforce One, and the Lincoln memorial.  At the end of our studies students were grouped into groups of six, and they were given a book to read together about one of the national symbols.  They then each picked one fact that they wanted to share about the symbol with the classes.  This week they will present their symbol to the class.

The classes favorite video - Mount Rushmore Rocks


Students researching their national symbols and collaborate together to collect facts!